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Posted on: October 17, 2016

Mayor Addresses Teens at Bloom Township High School's National Manufacturing Day

The purpose of National Manufacturing Day is to inspire students to explore careers in the manufacturing field. Mayor Gonzalez’s opening address at Bloom's manufacturing day event highlighted exciting opportunities in manufacturing. Over 300 student participants were in the audience to hear the Mayor speak about the history, present state, and future of manufacturing in Chicago Heights.Mayor Gonzalez told the students that his parents immigrated to the city from Mexico in the '50s because of the manufacturing jobs that were available. The Mayor talked about significant loss of manufacturing jobs across the country since then, but went on to say many of those jobs are coming back, however, they are not the same kind that his parents worked. He said that manufacturing and positions in the field are much more technology driven. Mayor Gonzalez mentioned that with the technological advances, workers will need to know how to operate the robots that will do most of the physical labor. Mayor Gonzalez noted that Chicago Heights has the ability to rebuild a strong manufacturing district, because the essential resources like highways and expressways, railroads, and utilities are available on the east side. "The rebirth of Chicago Heights will depend on manufacturing on the east side, and that is an invaluable asset for the City's economic growth," he concluded.

Eighteen south suburban high schools participated in the event and students were given a glimpse into the manufacturing industry through visits to 22 different plants and factories, including Esmark Steel and FH Ayer in Chicago Heights.